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South East Asia
  • Nout Van den Bos

South East Asia

A 57-day adventure by Nout Read more
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  • Trip start
    December 7, 2018
    Nout Van den BosSouth East AsiaTraveler

    Sandakan

    December 7, 2018 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    In town there isn't that much, but it's definitely a good example of a typical Asian city, really chaotic but good food everywhere! I went to see the orang utang rehabilitation centre, here they nurture rescued baby's and teach them how to survive in the wild.

    I was lucky enough to see the alpha male of the area. The alpha male developes weird flanges on their face, which smaller males don't have. Also saw some interesting insects.

    I mainly ate fried noodles or fried rice here, there wasn't much other food    Read more

  • Nout Van den BosSouth East AsiaTraveler

    Sukau

    December 9, 2018 in Malaysia ⋅ 🌫 25 °C

    My stop after Sandakan, a small village in the middle of the jungle, right next to the Kota Kinabantang, the biggest river of Borneo. It's very small, with only a few places to eat, and wildlife being at your front door, literally. I had to fend away some monkeys to go to my room.

    The main thing to do here is spotting animals along the river. I saw a lot of monkeys, mainly the proboscis monkey, which you can only see in a few places in the wild anymore. I also saw some crocodiles, hornbills and some other animals. I wasn't lucky enough to see pygmy elephants or orangutans, but it was really good. I also did jungle trek here, which let to a huge cave filled with bats. It was in the wet season tho, so something we had to go just below knee deep in the mud. Most of my pictures are on my camera, not my phone.

    The breakfast was included which was toast with egg, for the rest it was mostly fried noodles again haha    Read more

  • Nout Van den BosSouth East AsiaTraveler

    Semporna

    December 12, 2018 in Malaysia

    I went to semporna, mainly for the diving, there isn't anything else, really. I took my PADI Open water here, on my first real dive I already saw so many turtles! As many as 10 in one spot it really left a impression on me haha. I liked the diving so much, I stayed for another day of fun diving. Apart from lots of turtles, I some other notable stuff as well, such as crocodile fish, moray eals, groupers, scorpion fish, stone fish, a sea snake and lots of lots of coral!Read more

  • Nout Van den BosSouth East AsiaTraveler

    Tawau

    December 16, 2018 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    This was my first time couchsurfing! I was kind of scared but I had no reason to be, the host and his friends were very nice. They showed me some local cool spots, including some spots you normally wouldn't see. They took me to see the sunset at a spot where locals fish, after that they took me to a night market. The next morning we went trekking in a national park nearby, which let to a really nice waterfall.

    During my stay in Borneo I mostly ate rice with something, chicken fried rice, or fried noodles. There wasn't that much variation here.    Read more

  • Nout Van den BosSouth East AsiaTraveler

    Labuan Bajo

    December 18, 2018 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    After a delay in Kuala Lumpur, I finally arrived in Flores, the home of the Komodo Dragons. I went with a group to Komodo island, Padar Island and a pink beach. The day after I went diving again and I saw a lot of Manta rays and also two sharks! Of course I also saw a lot of other cool stuff.

    The food here was great, because Labuan bajo is a fishers town, you had great seafood here, in Indonesia they also have some other dishes like bakso, that I didn't find in Borneo. But the best thing was tempé goreng. It's a snack, basically it's fried soy, sometimes with vegetables. It's really tasty and very cheap. You can buy it from small carts on the roadside, and for 1 euro you had so many snacks, that you basically didn't need lunch anymore.    Read more

  • Nout Van den BosSouth East AsiaTraveler

    Ruteng

    December 21, 2018 in Indonesia ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    I rented a scooter, so I could go to my next destination; Ruteng. Here I stayed with people from couchsurfing. They were very nice, they gave me a lot of food and showed me the cool stuff around. They showed me a the spiderweb ricefields. Also a cave where they found a new subspecies of humans, being only 1.10 meters tall. They lived off giant birds, tiny elephants and Komodo dragons!

     During the rest of my stay, they took me to a traditional village and a waterfall. The father of the family came from a traditional village nearby, and is being promoted to head of the village next year. They told me about their culture and other stuff. When I left they also gave me a traditional hat and scarf!

    I had my first real Indonesian rice tables here. They filled the table with tons of dishes, from which you can take a little bit. And they encouraged you to grab a second and/or third plate! They said that it's seen as a good sign when you eat as many rounds as possible. This was definitely the best food I had so far!    Read more

  • Nout Van den BosSouth East AsiaTraveler

    Canggu

    December 25, 2018 in Indonesia ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    I spend my Christmas at Canggu, Bali. The first night was really nice, I met someone from the hostel and we all went out for a "Christmas dinner" and after that we went to a club. Next day i went to a few beaches and watched people learning to surf with some friends. In the evening we went to a "secret bar" this bar you had to enter via a refrigerator in a minimarket! After that we wanted to go out but I got sick. For the rest of my stay in Bali I couldn't do anything because I was to sick unfortunately.

    Bali is basically very westernised because of tourism, and there's almost more western food than Indonesian food here. But if you look carefully you can find some nice cheap authentic Indonesian places.b    Read more

  • Nout Van den BosSouth East AsiaTraveler

    Bangkok

    December 29, 2018 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    I still wasn't entirely recovered from Bali, so the first day was very tiring. I arrived very early in the morning, and my first impression of Bangkok was that it wasn't that chaotic as I expected. The traffic wasn't that bad and there weren't that many scammers etc. The first day I went to an amulet market, which was pretty cool, then I went to the royal palace, which was nice but way to crowded so I really couldn't enjoy it and the experience wasn't worth it for me. In the night I met up for some drinks in the red light district, which was pretty interesting.

    The next day I went to another temple, which was much better, a lot less people were there luckily. In the afternoon I went to one of the biggest weekend markets in Bangkok. I was just wondering around taking random directions and never got to a same spot again haha, that's how big it was. In the night I went out on Khao San road, where there are a lot of backpackers, so it's not really Thais.

    Next day me and a friend went to a museum, after that we stumbled upon some charity event and I got the spiciest food I've had in my life so far. At sunset we went to a temple on a mountain, with beautiful view over Bangkok. This night was new years, so I partied again. The next day was just relaxing and making a plan for my next stop, in the night I took a bus to Chiang Mai.

    Bangkok was okay, what I didn't like was that it was so crowded everywhere so I couldn't really enjoy it though.

    I had the best soup I ever had here! I'm not really a soup guy but this soup had so much flavor.    Read more

  • Nout Van den BosSouth East AsiaTraveler

    Chiang Mai

    January 2, 2019 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    I liked Bangkok when I was there, but after Chiang Mai i regretted my stay there. Everything I did in Bangkok, I did better in Chiang Mai haha, except for partying. The first day I went with some friends on a trek, to a temple on a mountain. There weren't that many people so it was really nice. In the evening we went to a night market and had some amazing food.

    The next day we went to a elephant retirement park. This is a park that rescued elephants from harmful tourism and the lumber industry. They sustain the place by letting people come here and take care of the elephants for a day. You prepare their food, feed them and give them a bath.

    Because the Thai food is really great, we took a cooking class in the evening. You could choose yourself what you wanted to learn. I learned how to make pad Thai, Khao Soi, spring rolls, and a Thai soup.

    The day after that we went to the highest peak in Thailand, 2562 meters above sea level. The peak itself wasn't that interesting but you could take a hike to see some amazing views, which eventually let to 2 beautiful temples and after that a waterfall.

    The food in northern Thailand is really great. I especially loved Khao Soi. It's a yellow curry made with coconut milk, it has noodles, crispy egg noodles and chicken in it. My favourite food of Thailand! Another dish I really liked was rice with stewed porkleg.    Read more

  • Nout Van den BosSouth East AsiaTraveler

    Mae sariang

    January 5, 2019 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    I decided to go on a motorcycle trip. It's called the Mae Hong Son loop and it goes through the most beautiful scenery in Northern Thailand. You start at Chiang Mai, go through Mae sariang, Mae Hong Son, Pai and you finish in Chiang Mai again.

    On the way to Mae sariang there's a beautiful waterfall, it's 230 meters high, and the water cascades down over a lot of small terraces. I spend quite some time here.

    I actually miscalculated how long I could be there and still arrive at Mae sariang during daylight hours. So I had to drive in the dark for quite a while on not the best roads. Would not recommend to anyone haha.

    The town is really sleepy, and there are almost no other travelers. I met two other people who are doing the same loop as me.    Read more

  • Nout Van den BosSouth East AsiaTraveler

    Mae Hong Son

    January 6, 2019 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    The next stop on my roadtrip. On the way there, I went to another waterfall. It was further away from the main road as expected, so it took quite a while. It also started raining when I arrived. I also wouldn't recommend driving through the rain on a scooter to anyone haha.

    The place I stayed at was really nice, it was a big wooden house, with an restaurant attached to it. Funnily enough, I met the two people from Mae sariang again here.

    The next morning I went to another temple on a hill, they really never get boring.

    Mae Hong Son is really close to the border of Myanmar, so the culture here is really mixed. You notice it at the temples, but also at food places. The food is different from any other place in Thailand.

    This is also a sleepy town, which I really liked. There where almost no other travelers here, and it's the high season!    Read more

  • Nout Van den BosSouth East AsiaTraveler

    Pai

    January 7, 2019 in Thailand ⋅ 🌧 27 °C

    On the way to Pai I made a few stops, there was a bamboo bridge which was made because the area flooded a lot in the wet season, and then monks couldn't get to the temple anymore. After that I went to another waterfall haha, this one wasn't that big.

    Pai is really different from the previous two towns. It's still a bit sleepy, and pretty small, but it's a hotspot for travelers. Mainly a lot of hippies and Israeli people.

    Even though there are a lot more travelers here, all the cool things around Pai were still not busy, so I didn't really mind.

    I met up with a friend from Chiang Mai, and we went around town seeing some stuff. There was a huge white Buddha on a mountain, which gave a great view over the city. After that we stumbled upon a great bridge with a bunch of dragons on it, which let to another white Buddha. After some other stuff, the last stop was the Pai canyon.

    They had some great hippy bars in town so we decided to go to one as well.

    For food we mostly went to the main street, which had tons of little stalls where you could get some food. Including some western stalls.    Read more

  • Nout Van den BosSouth East AsiaTraveler

    Chiang Mai 2

    January 9, 2019 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    I had to get back to Chiang Mai, so I could take the bus to the border town. I didn't really do anything this time since I was only here for half a day. I did go to a nightmarket for food and went to a local bar with someoneRead more

  • Nout Van den BosSouth East AsiaTraveler

    Chiang Khong

    January 10, 2019 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Took a bus from Chiang Mai to here, in order to cross the border. The early bus was already full unfortunately, so I had to cross the border a day later.

    After crossing the border, I took the slow boat to Luang Prabang, in Laos. It has a stop in Huay Xai for 1 night though.Read more

  • Nout Van den BosSouth East AsiaTraveler

    Pak beng

    January 11, 2019 in Laos ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    The slow boat I took was a two day trip, with a stop in Pak Beng. After immigration and the necessary tuk tuks, I got to the boat. I paid a little bit too much in hindsight, but not that much as I traveled as much as possible by myself.

    I was very lucky because there were so many people that they had to get a second boat. The first boat was already full, an only a handful of passengers still needed a spot, so the second boat was not that busy. The motor is on the back of the boat, completely in the open! So if you were in the back of the boat you had a lot of noise.

    On the boat I met some other Dutch people and we spend our day on the boat chatting, but also some alone time.

    Pak Beng is a town that revolves around the slow boat stop, there are lots of guesthouses and some restaurants, and they all try to reel you in.

    After we some food we went to a bar to play some pool, but not for long because I was really tired from the last couple of days.

    The next day we were really lucky again, as we got the boat with the nice seats, as opposed to the boat with the wooden seats. After a day of relaxing on the boat, we finally arrived in Luang Prabang, but we had to leave the boat by a very small wooden plank haha. Of course we had to take a tuk tuk from were we where dropped off, because they try to get as much money from you as possible.    Read more

  • Nout Van den BosSouth East AsiaTraveler

    Luang Prabang

    January 12, 2019 in Laos ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Luang Prabang is an UNESCO Heritage Site, because of it's interesting architecture. The local houses have been mixed and fused with colonial houses from the French. There's still a lot of influence from France here today, they sell sandwiches and baguettes everywhere!

    Luang Prabang has some really beautiful waterfalls, the water fall over limestone rockformations, which gives the water a really cool cerulean colour.

    Besides the waterfalls and houses, other local highlights include the nightmarket, where I bought some souvenirs, and "Mount" Mousi, a 100 meter tall hill in the middle of the town, giving you a beautiful panorama view over the area.    Read more

    Trip end
    February 1, 2019
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